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Chopin: Introduction and Polonaise Brillante in C, Op. 3

This page lists all recordings of Introduction and Polonaise Brillante in C, Op. 3, by Frédéric François Chopin (1810-49) on CD, SACD & download (MP3 & FLAC). Generally, more recent releases are listed first, but with priority given to those that are in stock.

Recommendations

BBC Music Magazine

Orchestral ChoiceMay 2007

Gramophone Magazine

Re-issue of the MonthMay 2010

All recordings

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The French cellist Edgar Moreau, who reaches the age of 20 in 2014, can already look back on a number of exceptional achievements, among them becoming the winner – at the age of just 17 – of the Second Prize in Russia’s formidable Tchaikovsky Competition, winning the Young Soloist Prize in the 2009 Rostropovich Cello Competition in Paris, and performing with such distinguished musicians as Valery Gergiev, Gidon Kremer, András Schiff, Yuri Bashmet, Krzysztof Penderecki, Gustavo Dudamel, Renaud Capuçon, Nicholas Angelich, Frank Braley, Khatia Buniatishvili, Gérard Caussé and the Talich Quartet. In 2013 his huge potential was highlighted by France’s top music awards, Les Victoires de la Musique, which named him the year’s ‘Révélation’ among young classical instrumentalists.

He has also made his first recording for ERATO with pianist Pierre-Yves Hodique, due for release in March 2014. It is a collection of short pieces – both virtuosic and lyrical. Rostropovich’s composition Humoresque features alongside works by, among others: Paganini, Chopin, Saint-Saëns, Fauré, Dvořák, Massenet, Schubert, Poulenc and Tchaikovsky. Although the album focuses on the 19th and 20th centuries, Moreau has a lively interest in contemporary music and looks forward to the opportunity to premiere new works as his career progresses.

A Parisian by birth, Edgar Moreau first realised he wanted to play the cello when he was just four years old – the instrument caught his imagination when he saw a girl having a cello lesson in an antique shop he was visiting with his father. He began lessons soon afterwards, and was giving concerts with major orchestras by the time he was 11 years old. Since the age of 13 he has been a student at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris. He has participated in masterclasses given by such cellists as Lynn Harrell, Anner Bylsma, Miklós Perényi, Gary Hoffman and David Geringas, and since October 2013 has been attending the Kronberg Academy near Frankfurt – home to the Emanuel Feuermann Conservatory, named after the legendary Ukrainian-born cellist.

Over the 2013-14 season he appears with, among others, the Orchestre National de France in Paris, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester in Berlin, and the Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse (under Tugan Sokhiev), while his recitals include dates at the Auditorium du Louvre and Berlin Philharmonie, and he plays chamber music – with Renaud Capuçon among his partners – at the Easter festival in Aix-en-Provence and in Wurzburg and Saint-Denis. He also joins Capuçon and Khatia Buniatishvili for Beethoven’s Triple Concerto in Lugano.

“What’s so admirable about young French cellist Edgar Moreau’s recital is its expressive restraint, its tactful mediation between extrovert and withdrawn qualities in the music performed...This splendid recital, so astutely recorded, serves notice of a singular talent.” MusicWeb International, 26th June 2014

Chopin & Saint-Saëns: Cello Sonatas

Two works from very different composers: Chopin’s works for cello were few and far between, but these two straddle his compositional life: the Introduction and Polonaise was written in 1829 when he was just 19, and the Cello Sonata of 1845-6 is his last work published during his lifetime: all latter works with opus numbers being published posthumously, against his wishes. By contrast, Saint-Saëns published a great many works for the cello, as well as works in almost every genre of the classical canon, with the Cello Sonata No.2 composed during his travels in Biskra, Algeria.

Jamie Walton and Daniel Grimwood are performers who have proven themselves, in both concert and recordings, to be formidable and enthralling interpreters of the classical canon. This release follows their previous duo disc of Rachmaninov and Grieg cello sonatas on Signum.

“intensely passionate performances of two of the most overtly romantic cello sonatas. The Saint-Saens Second is here full of heroic power, its long lyric passages sweeping forward in a golden glow of cello tone. Grimwood’s piano makes a powerful partner that continues in a rhythmically pliable and vigorous reading of Chopin’s neglected score. Excellent recording that perfectly captures the beauty of Walton’s playing.” Yorkshire Evening Post, 27th May 2011

“Jamie Walton’s mature cello timbre and perceptiveness in matters of interpretation are winningly applied to this coupling of two 19th-century sonatas. His musical partnership with Daniel Grimwood brings special immediacy and finesse to these performances...Finely honed stylistic judgment here goes hand in hand with re-creative panache.” The Telegraph, 9th June 2011 *****

“Walton's sound in this excellent recording is open and luminous. Daniel Grimwood is more than a match for his extravagant part [in the Saint-Saens]...There's plenty of Mendelssohnian magic here in both the lazily eloquent and fleet-footed variations, and an infectious sense of enjoyment...Their fine performance of Chopin's great Sonata clears its technical hurdles with ease.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2011 ****

“Jamie Walton is alive to the twists and turns of Saint-Saens's imagination and brings to the sonata a warm, rich sound that is initially very persuasive, ably supported by Daniel Grimwood, who surmounts the considerable challenges of the piano-writing with ease and musicality.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2011

Trio Chausson play Chopin & Liszt

Frederic Chopin’s Polonaise Brillante, Op. 3, is one of the few pieces this composer ever wrote for an instrument besides piano. Written when he was only 19 years old, in the autumn of 1829, Chopin had fallen head over heels for a young woman in Warsaw. Unfortunately for Chopin, the love was unrequited. Chopin's father, in hopes of easing Chopin's heartbreak took his son on a week-long trip to visit the estate of Prince Radziwill, who had two beautiful young daughters. At least one of the daughters, Wanda, was a pianist. He composed the Polonaise Brillante for her to practice with her cello-playing father. Chopin wrote later to a friend that the piece was merely a salon piece to be enjoyed casually and that he had written it in a manner so as to show off the young Wanda's pretty fingers. However, he must have held it in some high regard, for he included it on a concert tour in 1830, dedicating it to Joseph Merk, a renowned cellist. Chopin also later added an introduction to the Polonaise, making the piece Introduction and Polonaise Brillante. His friend, the great cellist August Joseph Franchomme, helped Chopin make necessary revisions before its publication in 1833.

Recorded in 2014

Alexander Zagorinsky, one of the brightest musicians of his generation, a Meritorious Artist of Russia, professor of the Gnessins Russian Music Academy, prize-winner of the 9th International Tchaikovsky Competition and other significant musical contests, was the first concertmaster of the cello section of the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic Society for ten years. Now he has been a solo performer recognized worldwide for over two decades. “I think there is no one in Russia who plays the cello like that”, admitted Edison Denisov, an outstanding composer of the 20th century.

A performer of an extensive repertoire, Alexander Zagorinsky has turned to music of different ages – from Bach and Telemann to his contemporaries. The cellist’s playing is characteristic for its subtle rendition of composing style, nobility and richness of sound, and depth of interpretation.

Alexander Zagorinsky has performed with the renowned Norwegian pianist and professor Einar Steen-Nøkleberg for many years now. One of the leading interpreter of Edvard Grieg’s music, Steen-Nøkleberg is a recognized performer of romantic music and prominent educator – he has performed and given courses across the world and been a judge at a number of international competitions. The duet of Zagorinsky and Steen-Nøkleberg has been acclaimed by critics as one of today’s best ensembles. The musicians’ complete mutual understanding and common views on the music they play allow them to be one whole when they perform.